PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Could JD Martinez be the final piece to the Diamondbacks’ offseason puzzle?

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

The Diamondbacks brought back Lourdes Gurriel Jr., so is JD Martinez next? We revisit the possibility of the former Diamondback returning to Arizona for 2024 and take a look at other potential options at DH for the Snakes. We also discuss Corbin Carroll and Zac Gallen being honored as part of the All-MLB team and answer a variety of mailbag questions.An ALLCITY Network ProductionSUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to D-backs Takeovers, Knockout Nights & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/phnx-56002330273 Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! All listeners can receive a $350 OFF discount when they use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See EmpireToday.com/PHNX for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.Circle K:  Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head on over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find out where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. WYNK Seltzer + THC: Go to https://drinkwynk.com/ and use promo code “PHNX” for 50% off. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, a big skew to you all and welcome it to another edition of the PHNX VVACs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia occasionally known as the mayor of the city of Phoenix. This man next to me, of course, is my vice mayor here in town taking care of a lot of, where's a lot of hats for me. He's also here at Thunderstake, the one and only Jesse Friedman. Jesse, hope you had a great weekend. Yeah, I'm still disappointed. appalled, frankly, that you, to my knowledge, don't have purple hair underneath that, that, uh, that trendy diamondbacks hat that you're wearing.

I do not. I do not. It's just normal hair. I was in a parade, though, this weekend. And I did wear my sash. Uh, and I did confuse a lot of people. There were a lot of discussions as I walked by about thinking that those, I thought that the mayor of Phoenix was a woman.

And then there's some Googling. And then I'm sure there's some questioning about who was that guy. But anyway, you guys know who I am. And of course, you guys know Lordis Geryel. Junior is. It's great to have La Pena back. And of course, La Pena signing here with the Diamondbacks is our desert financial credit transaction of the day. Of course, big transaction here for the Diamondbacks. We know that there were a lot of questions about what the Diamondbacks were going to do to fill the hole left by Gouriel. And this is the answer by essentially keeping him here in the valley on a

three-year deal worth $42 million, which doesn't seem to... bad compared to potentially what the diamondbacks would have paid for another free agent out there on the market yeah i mean as we said yesterday i think it's a it's a very fair and reasonable price for lordis given the season that he just had he was you know a three win player according to baseball reference he was just over a two win player on fan graphs getting that guy for around 14 million a year is about what you'd expect um and yeah i think there's there's good reason to believe i kind talked about this a little bit yesterday. I have an article coming later today with a little bit of a deeper dive. There's some good reason to believe that Lordus Gurriel is going to age

reasonably well. And granted, you know, these things are not always linear, you know, players don't always decline like gradually or whatever. Sometimes it does just kind of happen all of a sudden. But looking at some of those underlying indicators on Gurriel's 2023 season, I think there's actually a lot of reasons to feel confident that he'll be a productive player moving forward, which I certainly think was a big part in getting this deal done. Another big part is the fact that there weren't a lot of options that really replaced Lourdes well. We've talked about the free agency options the Diamondbacks had out there. It didn't really feel like many of those options.

We're going to bring the same wins above replacement and the same defense, specifically the defense that Lourdes showed last year. And he could potentially even be better this year defensively based on the fact that, that he knows Chase Field better. He's a bit more comfortable here, a bit more comfortable with the team. We also talked about the X Factor here in resigning Lourdes yesterday when we spoke about this transaction on the emergency pod. And we talked about it a lot. That is the fact that this is a guy that has really jelled well with his teammates.

He has been a great clubhouse guy and was just honestly a big part of the run that they had last year. There's something to be said about morale and keeping the team together to try to come and finish the job that they started last year. I truly believe that this was, this was just a huge leer for Lourdes, just like on a personal level as well. I mean, he made his first All-Star team.

He became a U.S. citizen. He played in the World Series. And now he's coming back to a team that by all accounts he really enjoyed playing for. So, yeah, I have to believe just like on a personal level, Lordus, you know, I certainly expect would be happy about coming back to Arizona.

And, yeah, going back to what you touched on about some of the alternatives on the market. That's something we didn't touch on too much yesterday. There are certainly right-handed bats on the market. There are designated hitter types on the market, which we still anticipate the diamond backs might be willing to add another right-handed bat. Those guys are still out there.

But in terms of what Lourdes provides, the fact that he is a very viable defender, you know, in the outfield, that's something that there's just not a lot of in free agency. I mean, Teoska Hernandez is out there. I don't know if that really would have made sense for the defense. debacks, it's probably a slightly higher price point than this deal with Florida Scurriel. The debacks were never going to go get Cody Bellinger. I don't think we ever anticipated that. So in free agency, there just weren't a whole lot of options here. And we tried touching on options in the trade market at 1.2. And it's like, you know,

do the Orioles want to trade Anthony Santander? Do the Nationals want to trade Lane Thomas? Like, there were some names that came up, but they weren't guys that those teams are just, you know, obviously trying to get rid of. So based on what was a available in the market, I think it just kind of points to Lourdes making even more sense for the Diamondbacks. Guys with years of control were inevitably going to cost much more as far as trade assets than, you know, obviously anybody that the Diamondbacks might have pursued on a one-year deal or, you know, one year left on their contract with their existing team.

It felt like they wanted to secure the future beyond that. And, you know, we've talked about maybe going after some of these deals, these guys on a shorter term deal just to limit risk, you know, and, you know, try to make a run for it in 2024, but allow you the flexibility beyond that to maybe continue spending and bringing in some other guys. There's something to be said about bringing Lourdes here, though, for the long term. And I think, again, Chris says it with a super chat. Thank you so much, Chris. He said, this makes the Dalton Varsho trade just that much stronger.

And it really does. It makes it feel like that that Dalton Varsho trade really did bring over a key piece that the Diamondbacks now have in their in-house and was easier to keep. It's like we said, it's just money, right? Money is money. Trading away assets, trading away players that could end up being very valuable is, it's much scarier. There's much higher risk there than just opening up the checkbook and keeping someone here that you already know as a quality player that already gives you, I guess, almost everything that you need in a player, right? I mean, I'm not saying that Lourdes is perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

And there might have been... His hair is perfect. His game not quite necessarily. Yeah, his defense. Even with his defense being good, there's still a lot to be desired there as far as his defense goes. Sometimes, you know, it's because like I've said, he looks like a baby giraffe out there playing outfield, but he was a very good baby giraffe last year.

And the man continues to just, you know, improve. I think Jesse brought up how streaky he's been. And obviously that's a concern. Yeah. That's something that they can help him with. maybe as he gets more comfortable, we see him have some of the numbers that he has put up other times in his career. I mean, he hit over 300 at one point for one season in his career.

So I think that he can be a bit more consistent as far as a hitter. Last year wasn't even his best year as far as offensive numbers go. Wasn't even close to his best year. But he could get back there once he gets comfortable and once he's here in Arizona for another season. And I'm looking forward to seeing that. I just also think, too, that there's something that I don't know if there really was an upgrade out there necessarily, a guy that you're going to truly feel like. You were trying to do better than Gueriel.

I don't. I mean, yeah, Cody Bellinger wasn't an option to Oscar Hernandez. I just don't think it would have made sense to spend more money for a player who you could argue is not really better than Lordus Guerriel at this stage. So, yeah, this move absolutely makes a lot of sense. Although I will stand by what I said yesterday. I still think the diamondbacks need to add a designated hitter in order for me to really feel like this was, you know, clearly the best thing for them to do. I'm not sure if Lordus over J.D. Martinez makes sense. But Lordus and J.D. Martinez is an ideal scenario, or at least, you know, one of the ideal scenarios that could exist out there for them. I also, I thought it was interesting. Ken Rosenthal wrote a column last night. And in talking about this move, he talked about how the diamondbacks are kind of going with. what is familiar to them in some ways. Eduardo Rodriguez was a guy that they had familiarity with going back to Boston.

Of course, Lourdes, certainly also a player that there's familiarity with, given that he was a diamond back this past season. And can also mention J.D. Martinez and how the diamondbacks could go even further down that road in getting another player that they're familiar with. So that seems to be, you know, kind of a big part of what they've done so far this off season. The other downside to Lourdes staying besides his streakiness, that we know, you know, he is kind of falls into a time is the fact that... He'll be the best hitter in baseball one month and then the worst a couple months later.

That's basically what happened between May and July, yes. It also means that Corbyn Carroll is a right fielder for the foreseeable future, most likely, with Guriel being there and left, and that's not great. People, I don't think, love seeing Corbin Carroll's arm in right field, which is understandable. You know, when you've got Kyle Schwerber going first to third in the NLCS, that's not... That's not an ideal situation. So, yeah, that is undeniably a downside here. I guess the silver lining is that Lourdes does have a good arm.

I know that, you know, being in left field, it maybe doesn't pop quite as much. But for a left fielder, Lourdes does have a good arm. I think he was 77th percentile in arm strength this past season. So that is a bit of an asset that kind of maybe helps balance out Corbyn's shortcomings in that area. But, you know, I think. the end of the day, you're not going to have a perfect team. And this is just one compromise that I think the Diamondbacks had to make. Meanwhile, when it comes to Jady Martinez, there seems to continue to kind of be a building,

you know, rumor, I guess, or building feeling that him coming to Arizona is a true possibility. But John Morosi did not exactly feel that way. It was interesting. Yeah, he did a segment on MLB Network this morning where he talked about what the Diamondbacks have done. And, you know, he expressed a lot of, a lot of positivity. about the offseason that they've had, which certainly can understand where he's coming from. But he was asked on that segment, you know,

is J.D. Martinez or Justin Turner, like, are one of these guys next? And he was a little hesitant. He was a little more hesitant than I maybe would have expected. He talked about the variety of other teams that are also interested in those guys and how the Diamondbacks might be, might not be the highest bidder when all is said and done,

which, you know, certainly no one was guaranteeing that the debacks were going to get one of those guys. You know, based on other reports we've seen the fact that Ken Rosenthal mentioned J.D. Martinez, the fact that Jeff Passon in his tweet yesterday talked about how the debacks are still looking for a power hitting DH. There's only so many guys in the market that really fit that profile. It leads me to believe that the debacks are still, I wouldn't rule it out. I wouldn't be too scared off by John Marosi's comments, although they certainly were not super, super positive in that regard. Elise in the chat says Morosi said J.D. is also.

also on a plane to Toronto. Meanwhile, Bob Nightingale countered that by saying that J.D. is not on a plane to Toronto. He's not on a plane. He is in Southern California in his home in L.A. We appreciate you.

Which very well made me true. He does live in L.A. presumably, I don't know. Martine has projected, MLB trade rumors, hasn't projected to go at two years 40 million fan graphs as one year 12.

Quite a difference there. That is a huge difference. Fan grabs tends to be on, obviously, on the more conservative side, whereas trade rumors, I mean, does kind of project things based on the market and what they're hearing at times. That's a lot of money, though. Two years, $40 million for J.D. Martinez. I'm just not sure if he's going to get quite that.

They also have Justin Turner projected at one year 16 million. Fan Graves has one year 12 million. So both could be, I mean, still in play if Fangraph is correct? I can't believe that Fangraphs has both JD Martinez and Justin Turner at one year 12 million. It seems pretty clear, at least from my standpoint, that JD Martinez is the more desirable of the two. He's younger and he was considerably more productive in 2023, although granted he didn't play quite as many games as Justin Turner made. Yeah, I mean, the Fangraph's number I think is like a crowdsource thing. So I think it's sort of the

result of a survey and then they kind of take the average of all the different results. So it's not an exact science necessarily. But yeah, I mean, two years 40 million for J.D. Martinez. That's MLB Trade Dreamers prediction, as you mentioned. That seems maybe a little steep for where I would expect the Diamondbacks to be willing to go. By all indications, there is a willingness to add further. Are they willing to add 20 million in AAB? That I don't know.

That I'm not so sure. We did hear from Nick Piccolo yesterday. over the Arizona Republic that Lordus is making 10 million in 2024, not 14. So there is a bit of a discount in the first year. Show, hey, you're not the only one that can structure your contract to benefit the team. So, I mean, I believe, I imagine that that helps the Diamondbacks in their pursuit for other players. But also the fact that they did that with both Eduardo Rodriguez and Lordis Gurriel kind of makes me wonder if they're willing to commit money more in the long term than just in. in 20 like do they have 20 million more to spend on 2024 specifically because we know that part of that is

waiting for mad madison bum gardener's contract to fall off right exactly and manson's you know i know that his isn't nearly what you know um gum gardeners is but yeah they do have some money on the books that they're waiting to fall off next year and and that could definitely uh be the reason i'm sure that's the reason they're structuring it the way that it is yeah uh but it could also mean like what you're saying is that they don't really have more money to spend they're just structuring it like that due to those contracts that they're still financially updated. JD signs a two-year $35 million deal. It's $2 million in 2024 and 33 and 2025.

Yeah, that's the trend these days there. Let's do it. Push those bills of the future. Well, and I know. Okay, so Justin Turner declined a $13.4 million player option with the Red Sox. But part of that is the fact that he receives a $6.7 million buyout just to decline the player option? Yeah, which is outrageous. That's outrageous.

I don't know why. I would absolutely decline that because, yeah, even if he gets 12 million, that's still 18.7 versus the 13. For the Red Sox, like, honestly a little surprising that they declined this in some ways because for them, the difference was 6.7 million. Right. They were either going to pay him 6.7 million to pay to play somewhere else, which is what they chose. Or they were going to pay him 13.4 to come back and play for them. So, yeah. What does that mean to you?

What does that say to you? Well, I mean, he declined the option, though, right? Yeah, he declined the option. So it's him the one declining it. But he still gets the buyout. Yeah. Which is, yeah, it's a pretty favorable instruction for him. Obviously, yeah, it's a situation that's definitely favorable for him.

And I think the idea here is that even if he goes with the lower end here, he could get trade rumors saying one year's 16 million. That's a lot. I mean, that's a lot of money. Yeah, if he gets one year's 16 million, he's going to make almost $25 million as a 39-year-old, which is wild. Good for Justin. Turner. Put that money away the savings. Don't spend it all. I'm just I'm just telling you now. I don't think it's going to be 16 million. My my gut is that Justin Turner will sign for less than that. And I do think that you're going to have some confidence. It's only a one year commitment

with Turner. Whereas JD, it's a little unclear. Fangraphs has the one year and trade rumors has two years. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes two years there at maybe even a slightly higher dollar value per year. So Justin Turner is clearly the more affordable option of the Well, we just had MLB all-MLB, the inaugural all-MLB weekend in Las Vegas. Our guy, Corby, Carole was there living his absolute best life. So was Zach Gallen, who I'm sure was still studying stuff and regarding pitching while he was there. Zach Allen stayed in. Corby and Carroll went out and partied, I'm sure.

But I'm sure neither one of those things are true. Corby Carroll is a machine that never takes a day off. But very, very cool to see Zach Gallen and Corbin Carroll honored. with the All-MLB Awards. Corbyn-Carrill joins Mookie Betts and Ronald Acuna Jr. For the National League outfield. And Zach Gallen joins Garrett Cole, Blake Snell, Shohei Otani, and Spencer Strider.

And I guess, wait, that's not even the NL. That's the all-M-LB team. Yeah, this is all-M-LB team. So Zach Gallen, one of the best pitchers in baseball. Corbyn Carroll, one of the best outfielders in baseball. And that's at least what this honors them for. So very cool to see them out there getting that recognition. And, you know, like I said, living it up in Vegas.

Yeah, yeah, they were, they really did it up this year. Like this was a, yeah, this was a pretty big event for MLB. I feel like they maybe could have done a better job marketing like when it was happening. Yeah. At least this, this like, even as someone who works in the industry, this was an event that I was like, oh, that's happening tonight. I did not realize that. It's about any baseball event. No, you can.

Probably fair. Because the NFL makes everything into a gigantic deal that you can't, you can't miss it. You don't know. There's no way for you to avoid knowing that it's going on. We discussed this, these all MLB, because this is a new award. So we discussed this when it was revealed, when they discussed what it was going to be, you know, and when when this was going to take place. But like Jesse said, there was a fan vote as a component of this. So, yeah, we talked about like getting out there and casting your ballots.

And from that standpoint, kind of impressive here that the Diamondbacks. got two players, you know, who wound up being a part of this. Corbyn Carroll beat out a lot of pretty good outfielders. Like Eric Lee said, the entire American League. He beat out the entire American League. I had the same thought that you did when I first saw. I was like, oh, this must be like an NL-A-L thing. And I just didn't realize because these are all NL outfielders.

And then I realized, no, it's just. Especially looking at those pitchers. They just all happen to be in the National League. So, yeah, I mean, good for Corbyn Carroll. like Mookie Betz and Ronald O'Cuna, I mean, there's no better company than those two guys. I mean, those are, you know, obviously finished very high in MVP voting. Ronald Acuna won the thing. So, yeah, that's a pretty, pretty solid company for Corbyn Carroll at age 23.

I'm going to say this. Corbyn Carroll is getting all of the recognition as a star here in Arizona that Paul Goldschmidt did not get. Yeah. Right? Like, that's the thing that feels. Paul Goldschman didn't play in the World Series, right? I guess that's probably a part of it. fair but I'm also saying like it feels like Corby and Carroll is getting his flowers

at all times in a way like you said that it's impressive because yes this is an award for all of Major League Baseball and this was a fan vote so typically the bigger markets the bigger market teams they get to vote their guys in even if they're not worthy of something like this in some cases and this just this not only feels right but it feels very cool for Gallin and Carol that that that you know we're not kind of stuck in that position like the Diamondbacks as a franchise aren't stuck in that position where our players aren't getting recognition. That was a very frustrating experience for us when it came to Paul Goldschmidt.

Like Goldie was one of those guys where we knew what he was doing, but it didn't really feel like it transcended over to the entire baseball world. It's a very valid point. And Carol has just lit the baseball world on fire since the minute that he started this season. I mean, I died my goddamn hair purple because I did not believe they were going to have a winning record in the month of April. By the way, we need to get on track with that. There's a lot of talk.

We're going to get questions about my hair. being purple. We got to make bets. I made a bet that I didn't think that they would, that they would achieve. And now, look at me, look at me, look how foolish I look after they went to the World Series this year, doubting this team. But again, that's the thing is, is that it does feel like the narrative. And yes, going to the World Series definitely helps. It's going to help create a name for especially the 23-year-olds on this team that will now receive that recognition going forward because people have seen them on a national stage and know who they are. But Corbin was also just, he was more on people's radars like when he first came up because he was just this young stud first round pick who, you know, was near the top or at the top of prospect list.

Paul Goldschman wasn't that guy. I mean, he was an eighth round draft pick. Keith Law hated his guts when he was called up. I didn't go that far. That's probably accurate. There were scouts who were very skeptical of what Paul Goldschmidt would be at the big league level. Very true. And, yeah, Goldie, unfortunately, was not a part of many.

great Diamondbacks teams. You know, he first came up, was kind of part of that 2011 team, played a role there, and then it was all the way until 2017 when the D-BACs made the playoffs, you know, made some fun memories. Goldie hit a big home run in that wild card game, but they didn't go deep. I mean, they just won that one game and that was the end of the story. So you can definitely feel that Corbyn Carroll's brand, even though he's not, you know, a totally out there personality and kind of a similar way as Goldie, but, you know, just his

speed and his athleticism. There's just something about his game and the fact that he's so young that that just really appeals to people, I think. And it put him on the map. I mean, it just put him on the map. And like you said, I think that's the, that's the more surprising part is he is not, he doesn't really like the recognition, right? Like he's not like that kind of guy.

He kind of shies away from questions about his own personal achievements and things that he does. He doesn't, he's humbled in that way. And I think that makes it even more surprised. that the more humility he shows, the more people want to heap the praise upon him. Like, no, no, no, I'm just a guy, you guys. No, no, no, you're not.

You're a damn superstar. You know, that's kind of what it's felt like. But he is, and he's our superstar, and he'll be here for a long time. So that's fun. Another great part, I guess, of the Valley that's been here for a long time. Arizona Lottery and their holiday scratchers have absolutely been a part of the Valley shopping experience

here during the holiday season. for a very long time. Always been my favorite gift to get around this time of the year. It could be a great stocking stuffer. Of course, if you're a procrastinator like Mr. Jesse Friedman, it's a great last minute gift that no one will be disappointed with. Scratchers start at just $1 and top prices can top out at $500,000. So make sure you give it to somebody you feel like deserves that kind of gift because it's giving someone a half a million dollars. Sometimes they're not worthy of it. So make sure you pick the right person. But again, make great stocking stuffers and perfect gifts this holiday season.

So go out and get your holiday scratchers today. Find a retailer like our friends at Circle K near you at Arizona Lottery.com. Must be 21 or older to play. And this holiday season can be very stressful. We should all be respectful of that when it comes to what we're all going through during this holiday season. I know it's supposed to be fun. It's joyful. But it's not always that.

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So get yourself a gift this holiday season for sure. We appreciate you guys, of course, being here in the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, make sure to do so now. Sign up for notifications. That way you don't miss when any of our wonderful shows go on live, like when the coyotes are just hanging out and Bill Armstrong. Strong's living room in the most scenic, damn shot we've ever had in the history of this company. Of course, another thing to remind you guys all of is this just confirms, this Lord's Move,

just confirms that every year on this show is our year. And every year for the Diamondbacks is our year. Every month on this show is Black History Month. Every month on this show, Women's History Month, every month on this show, also Black Women's History Month. It's also Pride Month all the time around here. It's also Shark Week. every single week, every single day is Earth Day. Derek, how do we celebrate all these holidays?

We do. I'm going to tell you why. Because see, people always ask me that. They're like, why do you do this? How is this all recognized all the time? You know why? Because we don't wait for a specific month or day to give someone their flowers. We give flowers out all the time year round and no special occasion.

Because if you earned it, you deserve your flowers. Just like Corbyn Carroll for that all MLB team, that's a big, that's big flowers. Every year is Corbyn Carroll's year on this show. But all of that, after I've said all of that, the most important thing here is that every Monday is Mailbag Monday. And every Monday, you know what we do. Damon, shall we? My mailbox.

Always something interesting in my mailbox. I try to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while there's a letter that makes me go, wow, wow, my mailbox. All right. Well, we got, we got cogs is in the house here. That's a very surprising thing to see over to my mailbox. Are we really surprised? No, we're not.

It was only a matter of time. Santa Cogs. Santa Cogs just showed out of the office. We got our first question here from the mailbag, though. Damon, what do we got for our first mailbag question? Do you got it? Oh, Damon. Damon.

Damon. All right. It took us a while to get there. But we got Gabriel. We got a couple of these, actually. I guess this question and question two are kind of related. But Gabriel, at bold as bronze, asks, will Papa, J.D. Martinez, in parentheses, come home for the holidays. Yeah, I guess that's a question I need to know, Jesse.

Will Papa come home for the holidays? I think the big thing here is Spencer asks, I think it's Spencer, asks a very similar question here also, and it's basically similar. Is J.D. Martinez, the D.H. That the Diamondbacks are going to go after. Are there other options at D.H.? I mean, obviously, there's other options.

We know it's not just J.D. Martinez. It's not just Justin Turner. Justin Turner, Mitch Garver, Jorge Salare, Tom Murphy is one of the more kind of low-key options. You could do some catching as well. Bring it back Tommy Fam, I guess, would make this list. It's a pretty long list of options. And people might have JD Martinez at the top of the list, and I can certainly understand why that would be the case.

I don't know whether JD Martinez is coming home for the holidays, Derek. But a lot of it is going to depend as a lot of things this offseason on. How far are the Diamondbacks willing to extend this payroll at the end of the day? With the Lordus move, they're already approaching $140 million. I think their internal figure, according to Nick Picoro, is slightly north of $140. It kind of depends on what you're counting. But they're going to probably... Money ain't a thing.

They're going to get close to 160 or even past 160 if they sign J.D. Martinez. I just don't think it's going to be possible to do it any other way. And that's a pretty big number for them. Like when they talk about having the biggest payroll on franchise history in 2018, I think their opening day payroll was like 131-ish, something in the lower 1-30s. Yeah. So that would be a bullish move. But based on what we've seen and what's been reported, can't rule it out.

It sounds like the Diamondbacks don't want to be aggressive. They seem to be staying aggressive. I like Michael B what he said here because I think the one thing about a DH could be that it needs to fill multiple roles potentially. And Michael said, signed Tom Murphy to backup Gabby and DH. And I think really when you talk about potential DH options, that might need to be a factor because if they are going to spend the money, they're not going to have the money to also then get a backup catcher of quality

that isn't more of an emergency backup catcher, but someone that can actually share time with Gabby so that he doesn't have to, you know, catch 140 plus games, you know? There's a good chance he's going to catch a lot. they definitely don't want them catching that much. There was talk in the chat. Thip Knob said, will they actually try to fix the bullpen?

I will fight you. I will find you and I will fight you. This is the one year. What do we do it? We all have to fix the bullpen. The bullpen is fine for now. We have lots of other things to fix besides the bullpen that got us into our deep friend,

almost single-handed. Yeah. Yeah. It was. How dare you cast that shade on T-Times name. It was the best thing about the diamondbacks in September and October. Like they did some other things pretty well too at times,

but their bullpen was the best thing about them in crunch time, you know, when they really needed to win games. And yeah, moving forward, we've talked about this a little bit. I don't view the Diamondbacks bullpen as being elite going into 2024, but I do view it as being formidable.

You know, this is the first time where you can go into the season and kind of have a good sense of who's the seventh inning guy, who's the eighth inning guy, who's the closer. Those roles are pretty much already ironed out. I do think they'll look to add some depths to the bullpen, but it would probably take the form of minor league deals

or guys who have a chance to make the team but are going to kind of have to show it in spring training. I don't think you'll see any major additions to this bullpen at this point. The other part of that question, I think Damon here with Spence, he asked, what do you think he'll take to get J.D. Martinez? How many years and how much money do you think it would take to land J.D.? I know we have our projections out there. What do you think, in your opinion,

unit's going to take. If a deal did get done. Yeah. I think it's probably going to be two years if I had to guess. I just, I mean, J.D., if you, like, he played 115-ish games with the Dodgers this past season, obviously you'd maybe like for a DH to be able to be in there a little bit more than that. Yeah.

But, I mean, he had 33 homers and drove in over 100 in like two thirds of a season. I mean, those are really good numbers. And he is, he is aging certainly, but he's still about four years. years younger, three or four years younger than Justin Turner. That probably works in his favor as well with Turner getting a one year deal. If I were, you know, J.D. Martinez's agent, I would be pushing for a second year there. I don't think it'll go to 40 million, which is what MLB trade rumors had. My guess is like two and 32. Something in that range seems pretty reasonable to me. Yeah, I would agree. All right. What else we got, Damon? Ed Helensky at Mr. Ed 315 on Twitter asks. And looking at the

DeBack's 40-man roster now. What letter grade do you assign it now? And what should Santa bring to upgrade the team? Well, I mean, we've talked a lot about DH, but if I'm being honest, really, I would like Santa to bring us another starting pitcher. I know. Wow. It's asking too much.

Getting greedy. Yes, so greedy. I mean, it is this time of the year. You want Yamamoto, don't you, Derek? You know I want Yamamoto. But, I mean, honestly, I think that another. their starting pitcher. But if I'm, if I'm assessing a letter grade to the to the team right now, it's hard to give them anything other than a B plus and it's hard to give their transactions

during the offseason anything less than an A. Like, I don't want to go crazy and be like, this is an A plus roster. But I mean, one more addition could move it at the roster as a whole into the A range for sure. And there's still some, there's still some, you know, obviously some guys within the organization that can help fill the roles like what I'm talking. about with the starting pitcher. Like I still have a lot of faith in Tommy Henry and Ryan Nelson in their development. I still think that there's other wild cards that we haven't seen yet, like a Blake Walson and don't know how he might factor in for a starting role position. But I think, again, Jesse's been stressing this. If you really want this team to look

and prove from last year, we need a power bat. We need a power bat at D.H. One more. And then that's the thing that I think is really going to push them over the edge as far as being or maintaining a contender status. You know, that's, people are already very much, like Jeff Passon, a lot of the best minds in baseball, have already applauded the Diamondbacks quite a bit for not only the moves they've made, but for keeping up with the spending that's going on,

Major League Baseball. They're up there spending with the top teams so far this offseason, and that's not something many of us expected to see. We saw some comments. There were a bunch of comments on our podcast, our emergency podcast yesterday, when the Lordess move first broke. And yeah, I mean, even I was kind of blown away at how many people were saying, like,

man, it's fun to be a fan of this baseball team right now. Like, man, it's fun to be a snakes fan. And you can, I totally get it. Like, there's a reason why people like Jeff Passon are coming out and saying, you know, this is the way that it should be. You go to the World Series and you invest in the team and you try to get better. That is what the Diamondbacks have done. And granted, they're not going to go to the level that some teams will go.

but there's clearly a desire here to be aggressive. And we've certainly seen that this offseason and, you know, doing what we do every day. It's fun for me to, you know, to see people get this excited about the team that I cover on an everyday basis. It makes our job a lot more, a lot more fun and interesting that the Diamondbacks right now are about as popular as they've been in a long time. There's just a lot of people who have a positive view of this team right now. To actually answer the question, the 40-man roster, yeah, I think it's in a good place. I'd probably go maybe something like a B at this point. I do think there are some depth.

I don't know if I'd say issues, but just some things to shore up on the depth front. You still need a solution at catcher. You probably want to add a piece there. I think the outfield depth is pretty solid with Jake McCarthy and Dominic Fletcher kind of profiling as your fourth and fifth outfielder at this point.

But on the infield front, I think there's maybe some work that could be done there. There's not a whole lot of guarantees maybe beyond the starting four guys. You've got Manor Rivera, you have Jace Peterson, you have Jordan Lawler, Diego Castillo, and Blaze Alexander are also on the 40 man. You don't really know what you're going to get exactly from a lot of those guys. So that would, yeah, those are some of the reasons why I wouldn't necessarily go A here, but it's clearly in a good place. All right.

What else we got? Amen. Next question comes from Karen, our favorite groundhog mama. and she says, Santa Coggs wants to know, have you been naughty or nice? And this is where Santa Cogs actually. Jesse, have you been naughty or nice this? I don't know.

I don't know. Is that for me, is that for me to decide? Yeah, it's our favorite baby boy Coggs. One and only, what, like, I think our only fan that has won Kingsnake, right? I think that's true. What do you got? I come bearing gifts. What?

I think you've been nice. Oh, wow. Let's go, Jesse. All right, I'm gonna go first because... There's no way Derek's been nice. Yeah. No way. You seem like an excessively generous.

Oh my God, it's exactly what I wanted this holiday season. It's the Corvett. Let's go. What did you get, Jesse? Have you been nice? Yours is coal. Yeah, mine might be. Even if you got a box and you got to open it up.

I bet there's coal inside. Just like double layer. Yeah, exactly. You notice there was no preference on who got it, but I... Oh, let's go. We got a back down. It is. It's like you knew what we wanted.

Thank you, my friend. Of course. Thank you, Coggs. What are your thoughts so far on the offseason moves? I think this is awesome. I'm so surprised that they've actually put a bunch of money in the team. I know at the beginning of the off season we saw like maybe we'll spend maybe 20 million, you know, maybe a little bit more than that. But they've gone all in and they've said that they're not done, which is super exciting to see that.

I think Jorge Solera or J. Martinez is like the icing on the cake and then we can make the World Series and we're not going to lose this time. We're going to win the World Series this time. There we go. That's our guy. Hell yeah. We're going to hold you to it, Cogs. Cog said the Diamondbacks are winning the World Series as long as they get one of those guys.

Appreciate it. Thanks, Cogs. We appreciate you. We needed Cogs today. Gabriel says no Turgo Man doll. Maybe next year. Maybe next year. But, oh man, that's great. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And of course, we appreciate all of you guys for being here.

If you're physically here, if you are here in the chat, it doesn't matter. Did you imagine if we had like an in-person audience? What do they call? Yeah, a gallery. Is that what they call it? Oh, man,

that would be the best. That would be, that would be pretty fun. Although people would be like throwing things at us while we're on the show. No, that's true. I don't know if I'd like that's actually. You know things would turn.

People would start booing you like the college name-made. I would be booed on a regular basis. Elizabeth wants to know when Coggs becomes a third co-host. Well, we need him to show up on his first day of work as to be a beat writer first. We've got to get some conversations behind the scenes about his work ethic and so forth. And we'll get a fix. If you're willing to skip school more often, we'd be in a better place. That's key.

Unpaid as well. Yeah, right. Unpaid. You got to skip school. You got to do a lot. There's a lot of sacrifices you have to make around here. But tell you what, one way to make up that money you might lose from coming and being our third co-host is to check out bet MGM.

You can download their Sportsbook app now. You can make yourself a bet. And if your bet loses, you'll get up to $1,500 back in bonus bets. All you got to do, download the app or visit bedmgm.com, sign up and deposit at least $10 into your newly created sportsbook account. Use our code of PHNX. Place your first wager and receive up to $1,500 back in bonus bets if the bet loses. If the bet does lose, your bonus bets will be available once your wager is settled. Of course, great time to get down on the same game parlay's NFL football.

I guess I'm a Cardinals fan, so they're telling me there's a couple of weeks left. I don't really know anymore. What's the point of paying it to? But I will tell you this. You can sign up for that. You're ruining Damien's library. I really am. I'm attacking other beats.

Five days a week. If Damon's heart, if you're thinking that breaks Damon's heart to make that comment, it breaks my heart, even more to have to have set it out of my mouth. They're 3 and 11. What else can you say? I know. What can you say? It's pretty rough.

Yeah, tank season is here. That's what you say. Cut off the sleeves. Marvin Harrison Jr. for the win. But of course, sign up for bed, MGM and use that bonus code PHNX. Next, you can place some future bets. There's all sorts of great options there as well. Place your first bet, MGM Sportsbook Wager,

through the mobile application of at least $10. If that bet loses, your bonus bets will be available once your initial wager settle. Check out the show notes for full details. And now listen to Shane. Talk about the disclaimer. Gambling problem. Call 1-800, Gambler, Colorado, D.C., Illinois, Indiana,

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1-800-2707-1-1-7 for confidential help, Michigan. 1-800-1-0-0-3, Puerto Rico, in partnership with Kansas Crossing, Casino, and Hotel. Visit at MGM.com for terms and conditions, U.S. promotional offers not available in D.C., New York, or Ontario. Ontario. Well, we're better at this. We should have had COGS.

We should have had COGS in here. Pretty soon we will do harmony. We'll do it in different keys. We'll get four of us on the mic. but you're just using one mic like the temptations used to do. All right, if you're a diehard, we thank you for being a diehard. If you're not a diehard yet, get yourself a diard membership. That's the best gift you can give yourself this holiday season or give it to someone else.

It makes a great present under the tree. Get that free shirt, that free shirt for PHNXLocker.com and so much more. So sign up today over at go phtonx.com. We got some more mailbag Monday questions. What else we got there, Damon? Next question comes from Michael. And Michael wants to know, this is Michael Rokickeke, who did not believe. in my Michael Hazen draft.

We got trounced on that by Jacob, by the way. Yeah, that was so ridiculous. He took two Cotel Marte transactions. I don't understand how people were just all about his team. And the second one is so unknown, Derek. Oh, man. We're in like year, we're like not even technically in the first year of that extension. We're just using Michael's question to vent about your guys bad voting and everybody voting for Jacob.

But Michael wants to know, will Derek dye his hair purple again now that Lord is. is back. And yeah. Will he? I don't think so. I don't think Derek will die his hair and get purple again now at Lourdes back.

And I'm going to tell you why. I don't think Lourdes is going to die his hair purple. I think we're going to see Lourdes with a completely new hair color. I think for the 2024 season Lardis is going to join Gabby and go lime green.

They're going to go green. So does that mean, so that means you go lime green, I'm going lime green. Okay, okay. But we have, We have to, there has to be a bet. They have to, they have to do something. Sure.

I haven't looked at the schedule yet. Do they have an easy schedule in April? Where can I push them? Where can I motivate them with my actions? Yeah, I haven't looked too closely at the schedule yet. We'll have to do that at some point. Yeah, we'll do it. We'll figure it out.

We'll figure the hair out. But most likely no, purple is gone forever. But we'll see what happens. What else we got, Damon? Next question comes from Kingsnake Coggs, who asks, if Pena were to ditch the purple hair, what do you want to see them change the color to? Well, I just gave that.

way. I think I was one step ahead on that question, but yeah, it's the green, the lime green. I could see, there's been a lot of talk about hair colors in the chat. Maybe that Gabriel Moreno goes teal and Lourdes goes like red. I don't know.

There could be some things in there. I'm interested to see what's what do you think? Get on board with the new color scheme. What about, what if he just went completely crazy and did one of those like, you know where they make their hair look like leopard skin? That sounds like that. That sounds terrifying. Yeah, it's wild.

I don't know how they do that. But maybe he has a lot of volume. I have the opposite of whatever a lot of volume. Did he, he complimented the volume of your hair. He did not. No, he actually insulted the volume of my hair.

It was the other direction. I forgot about that. He said I needed more volume as if I wasn't trying hard enough to have thick and luxurious hair. I would love to have more volume. Guys, I think that's only going to happen by transplant or fake hair at this point. Yeah, no. Istanbul.

Oh, man, let me tell you. That was a rough one. He hit me right in my fields when it came to things. I'm concerned about my own life. What else we got, Damon? Rick Rikai, beer guy, the beer guy, asks any minor leaguer who didn't play last year in the majors, you can see making a contribution this year. Absolutely.

I still think that they have some guys in the system. And honestly, even some of the guys that have contributed, they maybe weren't making a big splash in the minors. like Andrew Saul-Frank, for instance. Andrew Saul-Frank didn't have the most buzz about him in the minor league system, but ended up being a huge contributor down the stretch for this team. Yeah, I think it's more so guys that you have already seen in the majors that I would expect to contribute next season. Yeah, guys like Andrew Saul-Frank, Jordan Waller certainly fits this list.

Slate Cicconi, Bryce Jarvis, some of those young pitchers that we caught a glimpse of toward the end of the season. And those guys, I think there's totally an avenue for those guys to play a fairly significant role in 2024. As far as guys you haven't seen yet in the majors, I'm not sure the list there is all that long. There are a few that come to mind, Blaze Alexander, as I mentioned earlier, he's on the 40-man roster. I don't think he has a whole lot left to prove in AAA at this point. Seems like he'll probably get an opportunity here in the majors at some point. I mean, if he doesn't, he's going to be like one of those 35-year-old minor leaguers before we know it.

Like, it feels like Blaze Alexander. He's not quite that old yet. But yeah, but. Here's my mailback question. Could we see a world where they want Jordan Lawler to develop a little bit more and get regular A Bs and Blaze Alexander as the backup? Yes. Yeah, I think that's reasonable depending on what happens in AAA. And what happens with Jordan Lawler at a major league level?

I mean, he definitely struggled offensively, you know, and who's to say what we would have gotten out of Nick Ahmed versus Jordan Lawler there down the stretch, right? And I'm not even joking. about that. I'm 100% serious, right? I'm to say. Nick Omich was straight out. You are to say. The curveballs in the dirt. Yeah, well, I mean, the Jordan Lawler's at bats at times didn't look too much better than that. But I'm just saying, like, that that was maybe a little bit of what the Diamondbacks did with Corby and Carroll trying to use that same formula with Jordan Lawler, getting him that initial time at a major league level before he has his true rookie season. And hopefully we'll see him be able to adapt and have a better, you know, much better approaches at the plate than what we saw.

But, yeah, I mean, honestly, what you're saying isn't, I don't think this franchise, I don't think this front office is going to run things where anybody is going to be just anointed any position or anything. Like, especially if you have options left and you're not playing well, there is a chance that you're not going to get much playing time. And they would rather see you get those at bats in Reno than sitting on the bench here, you know, in Arizona. Yeah, it's just a different, it's just different this year. It's just different when you're entering a season where you're really trying to contend. You don't have the time to give some of those guys. And going back to Jordan Lawler, that's why, yeah, I don't think it's a given that Jordan Lawler is even on the opening day roster.

If he still needs some time to figure, I mean, the Debex really rushed him through AAA and got him up to the big leagues toward the end of the 2023 season, they might want to send him back there to work on some things, get every day at bats before bringing back to the majors. You wouldn't want to put him in a position where he's in over here. his head or anything. I mean, he's just turned 21 years old, not that long ago. Blake Walson and Coggs mentioned in the chat.

Another guy, I could definitely see making his big league debut at some point, you know. But even there, I think there's still some pretty significant development to happen there. I wouldn't necessarily call that a guarantee. Not everybody is this guy. Let's not forget that. Yeah. One of the reasons why there was so much. And you're holding the Corbyn Carol Barlow.

Oh, yeah. For the audio only people. The guy I'm talking about listeners. is Corby and Carroll. And I say that because Corbyn Carroll did make, like part of the buzz was the fact that he went through the minor league system so quickly and was being called up. And that caused a lot of heads to turn and say, wow, wait, what is, how is he up here already?

You know, that they must really see something in him. Now, not everybody is that. You know, not everybody's Corbyn Carroll. So most people are not. Most people actually are not, believe it. All right. What else we got, Damon? Last question comes from Kevin Lundon.

And Kevin asks, after seeing your Chase Field photo tweet from last week, what images do you think they should use for the outfield panels outside the stadium? Should they stick with stock baseball images or change it up? You know the answer absolutely is not going to be stock baseball images when it comes to me. No. No. The Diamondbacks need to replace the panel images with images from their postseason run, right? What are those images? Well.

Like the ones that they use right now are they going on like Getty images and searching baseball and then getting like pretty generic stuff? Because that's kind of the vibe that I've always gotten. They're kind of nondescript. What's that? Oh, there it is. That's a good one. We are all witnesses. That's it.

We are all witness. I would also like if I'm being honest, if we're on the Alec Thomas train, I would like the Alec Thomas planting the flag at. at Citizens Bank Park as one of the images. I would also like Corbyn Carroll, maybe in the pool, like an iconic Corbyn Carroll wearing, you know, the snow goggles. There's enough photos from the Diamondbacks World Series run that you could pretty easily come up with some incredible stuff. Craig Morgan's Army call.

What is that? What is happening, right? And I'm just, I refuse to not stop the show to take a picture. I think Craig Morgan just did the worm. He did the worm. Yeah, he literally, he busted out the worm and rocked it the whole way down. It's pretty incredible. But there is.

All right. I'll show you why I was doing it. Okay, he's getting bobbleheads. That's fine. We'll allow it. No, you're welcome here anytime. I do appreciate Craig's willingness to do that to try to not, to try to not. Like, most people would have just waltz in here and just grab what they needed all of the box.

sacrificed their set and been like, you know what, those two fine gentlemen in there, they're busy, they're doing a show, I'm not going to bother them, not Craig Morgan. Craig Morgan, army crawled his ass right onto our set without you guys even knowing had Jesse and I not revealed what was going on back here and proceeded to just get the job done. And if that's not a metaphor for who Craig Morgan is, I don't know. That's fair. I don't know what is. Do you think if they went with the Alec Thomas planning the flag thing, would you have concerns

about the Philadelphia Phillies coming into town not being too happy about that pushing Bryce Harper's buttons a little bit we've seen how that turns out as a matter of fact I want it to be a lenticular I want it to be in lenticular image Jesse whereas you pass by it it actually moves and you get to see it standing

the flag into the ground that's what that's the moment I want to see Bryce Harper be like did they really put that and then he moves he's like it moves it fucking moves like yeah that That's the moment where his head just explodes. And we're in his head now at that point.

We're not just motivating him. We're in his head. No, I think that there's definitely some iconic moments. I would put up, because there's four panels, right? I would just put up a shot of the four home runs that we hit against the Dodgers in game three. That's it. Just bang, bang, bang and bang. And maybe Gabby gets two for the foul ball.

Yeah, Gabby gets like a little split screen action or something. There you go. Oh, yeah. We'll get this figure out. It got it settled. I actually love the idea of Alec Thomas with his arms out as he's rounding first base. Yeah. Elise said it earlier.

Yeah. That is just a fire picture. Yeah, that was a good picture. But I mean, I think we've seen that in the past where they put a lot of iconic images from the Diamondbacks World Series, you know, when around the stadium. Why not this? I want to see this. I want to see these images. Even if they're not on the big panels.

Let's do something. But Jesse's right. Stop with the clip art. Let's get some. Let's get some snakes up there or something. I think Brandon is right. Brandon said a couple of them are close-ups of the previous uniforms on a non-specific player. I think that I think that sounds right.

Somehow I don't, I'm there almost every single day for six months. I couldn't tell you at all. I have no recollection of exactly what it is, but that sounds right. That does click in my brain a little bit. So yeah, it seems like an odd choice. It seems like there's an opportunity there to have something that stands out a little bit more from the outside of the building. Well, not to remind you guys that baseball is still far away, but even though it is still far away, you can make sure to get your tickets at game time.

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estimate today all listeners can receive $350 off when they use promo code p h and x restrictions apply see empire today.com slash p hnx for details well that's all we got well we'll be back tomorrow of course uh i'll probably be a little bit more festive maybe i don't know i need some more holidayware to uh get ready for this weekend coming up but in the meantime you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at K-M-Ur-M-W-A-K. This maniac next to me is at Jesse N. Friedman. Of course, the people's producer is Damon behind the Mac. You can follow him at Damon's dog, or Damon Dog.

That's Damon Dog. We are Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. But he is Damon Dog, and you can find him at DAWG. There at the end. Of course, our show is at PHNX underscore D-Bax, but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I think Brandon is right. I think there's six panels, not four. Oh. Yeah.

Again, that shows how much I pay attention. So six pictures of Kevin Ginkle with his triumphant off the mound celebrations? Yes. Yeah. That's just, it's like one of those flip books where it's just, as you look down,

it's just him getting more and more than half. Like the first one is just kind of walking on the mound. And by the last one, it's just full on raw our face. But we solve problems around here. That's what we do. But we appreciate your time so much. We thank you guys for stopping by.

We will see you tomorrow at maybe at one point. p.m. pending if there's some sort of press conference for Lordus. Not sure if the Diamondbacks are going to announce that. But we'll keep you posted if there is any change to schedule. But again, we thank you for stopping by today. We appreciate your time. We appreciate Coggs's time, Santa Cogs.

And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you get bobbleheads as gifts at work.